Bill Gates Doesn’t Want To Be a Billionaire Anymore
Like many charitable billionaires, Melinda and Bill Gates signed The Giving Pledge. How much of his fortune has Bill donated to charity so far?
July 19 2022, Published 7:52 a.m. ET
On July 13, Bill Gates tweeted that he plans to give away virtually all of his wealth to charity, which would move him off the list of the world’s richest people. Gates is currently the fourth-richest person in the world. How much has Gates already donated to charity, and how much is he worth?
Back in 2000, Bill launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with his then-wife. And in 2010, he and Warren Buffett founded The Giving Pledge, which encourages billionaires to pledge at least half of their fortune to charity, either during their lifetime or upon their death.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s spending is to rise
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private philanthropic foundation, invests 5 percent of its endowment in programs and advocacy. The other 95 percent is invested through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, the foundation’s sister nonprofit.
The Gates Foundation is planning to increase its spending from nearly $6 billion per year to $9 billion per year by 2026. To make this spending increase possible, Bill transferred $20 billion to the foundation’s endowment this month.
How much has Bill Gates donated to charity?
In his tweet, Gates added, “I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for reducing suffering and improving lives. And I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too.”
To date, Gates has donated nearly $57 billion to the Gates Foundation, including a $20 billion donation announced in July 2022. Most of his early donations were in the form of Microsoft stock.
Bill Gates’s net worth has almost doubled in the last 12 years
In 2010, Gates pledged to give away his wealth. However, his net worth has almost doubled since then, to $103 billion according to Forbes. This number is set to fall after Gates’s donation to charity this month.
Bill Gates
Business magnate, software developer, investor, author, and philanthropist
Net worth: $103 billion
Birthdate: Oct. 28, 1955
Birthplace: Seattle, Wash.
Birthname: William Henry Gates III
Education: Finished high school in Lakeside School in 1973. Dropped out of Harvard University after two years.
Father: William H. Gates Sr.
Mother: Mary Maxwell Gates
A self-made billionaire, philanthropist, and co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates is the world’s fourth-richest person. He's also one of the largest owners of farmland in the U.S.
Bill Gates’s investments
Bill Gates is a self-made billionaire. Gates accumulated his wealth by building a vast business empire and investing in a mix of stocks and other assets, including bonds, real estate, and private equity.
At the end of Q1 2022, he had an 18-stock portfolio. The biggest holding was Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, accounting for 51.2 percent of the portfolio. However, that has mostly been donated to the foundation. Waste Management, the second-largest holding, accounted for 14.94 percent of the portfolio. Gates is also one of the largest owners of farmland in the U.S.